BluewaterLa
Active Member
I like discussions as much as the next guy and like to read all the responses in detail. What I have noticed is the notion that we never heard of GFO bashing or saying its harmful to use constantly and strips water too clean 10 years ago.
To this point I would like to bring up that GFO use in the hobby is not really new but has not been around very long either.
I've been in this hobby quite a long time and the product did not hit popularity until recent years ( within the 10 being quoted often )
Just like many other things from snake oils to coral type, equipment and anything Reefing related there are trends and new products that loads of folks rush to buy and use. Many jump on the wagon not even needing such a product but merely because it's the thing to ''do'' much like the whole Zero nutrient reading Fad.
This was made more popular with the uprising of Zeovit and the likes of methods to create Pastel colors some love to see. Really it boils down to a company making products to strip the water of whats in it and replace with what they are selling in a controlled method.
Nothing wrong with it / this if its your thing, Just not needed for success for fact and in my opinion a waste of money but I digress as this is just one opinion and only as such.
With Gfo and other nutrient export methods being used and accepted as ''normal or needed'' we are getting into an era of keeping tanks too sterile.
It is a combination of Zero nutrients without proper understanding that this is a method for manipulating Zooxanthelle within the coral tissue for colration purposes. Other parts of the equation is All Dry rock, sterile and devoid of the much needed bio diversity that a thriving Ecosystem needs.
couple this with the advancements in our filtration, skimmers, high powered lighting among many other advancements just in the past 10 years and you have a recipe for Starvation of your corals and or total ecosystem down to the micro fauna level.
Years back our equipment was being developed and mostly primitive compared to todays technology / equipment. The hard methodology for reefing basics / success has not changed much if at all though Our Understanding of the total picture has and in greater depth.
No one is going to argue that the only way to run a tank is this or that way and thats the bottom line, No exceptions.
What I am saying is in total with a low or ultra low nutrient system kept thriving Long term for Years / 5 plus and longer are being upheld with additions of one or more foods including Amino acids, carbon sources ( many of these used today ) Multiple coral and fish foods several times per week. This is just some basic things that are done, the total systems like aqua forest and Zeovit to name a few have too many products to list as their complete line of product or total system they offer which include trace elements, vitamins, aminos, carbon sources and who knows what else.
I get what you are saying about new reefers reading things and taking them for end all be all, this happens all the time.
How do you think GFO got so popular along with the Nitrate / Phosphate are the devil trends ??
This was born out of the constant struggle to keep these at more controlled / normal levels Vs the lethal levels of the past old salts were used to battling with and Large water changes were our best ''tools'' to remove them.
In todays day and age where corals are ''easier '' to keep due to the great equipment, shared information and available Everything at your fingertips we are seeing folks having success keeping critters long term that would have other wise never gotten past the learning curve 20 years ago.
Regarding this the urge to pack a small tank with coral filling every inch of space possible the corals themselves become the greatest Nutrient removal system in the entire tank more often than not, so we factor all this in and we have a new issue developing.
New issue is lack of dissolved organics / nutrients in the system to keep a packed reef tank healthy long term while using many of the methods and great gear all together or in some combination.
It is far harder to compare tanks No matter how we look at them or from what time period merely by just gathering data from test kits or from trending threads. There is a lot of useful information to learn from all of the above but way to many variables to even start to compare accurately.
At the end of the day I see all sides to this discussion and folks will stick to what they believe and what works for them, that is fine / all good.
10 years from now we may be discussing how XYZ was the trend and Now XYZ is being black balled due to changing factors even though many folks are still using XYZ with excellent results, so what gives ?? See my point there.
To this point I would like to bring up that GFO use in the hobby is not really new but has not been around very long either.
I've been in this hobby quite a long time and the product did not hit popularity until recent years ( within the 10 being quoted often )
Just like many other things from snake oils to coral type, equipment and anything Reefing related there are trends and new products that loads of folks rush to buy and use. Many jump on the wagon not even needing such a product but merely because it's the thing to ''do'' much like the whole Zero nutrient reading Fad.
This was made more popular with the uprising of Zeovit and the likes of methods to create Pastel colors some love to see. Really it boils down to a company making products to strip the water of whats in it and replace with what they are selling in a controlled method.
Nothing wrong with it / this if its your thing, Just not needed for success for fact and in my opinion a waste of money but I digress as this is just one opinion and only as such.
With Gfo and other nutrient export methods being used and accepted as ''normal or needed'' we are getting into an era of keeping tanks too sterile.
It is a combination of Zero nutrients without proper understanding that this is a method for manipulating Zooxanthelle within the coral tissue for colration purposes. Other parts of the equation is All Dry rock, sterile and devoid of the much needed bio diversity that a thriving Ecosystem needs.
couple this with the advancements in our filtration, skimmers, high powered lighting among many other advancements just in the past 10 years and you have a recipe for Starvation of your corals and or total ecosystem down to the micro fauna level.
Years back our equipment was being developed and mostly primitive compared to todays technology / equipment. The hard methodology for reefing basics / success has not changed much if at all though Our Understanding of the total picture has and in greater depth.
No one is going to argue that the only way to run a tank is this or that way and thats the bottom line, No exceptions.
What I am saying is in total with a low or ultra low nutrient system kept thriving Long term for Years / 5 plus and longer are being upheld with additions of one or more foods including Amino acids, carbon sources ( many of these used today ) Multiple coral and fish foods several times per week. This is just some basic things that are done, the total systems like aqua forest and Zeovit to name a few have too many products to list as their complete line of product or total system they offer which include trace elements, vitamins, aminos, carbon sources and who knows what else.
I get what you are saying about new reefers reading things and taking them for end all be all, this happens all the time.
How do you think GFO got so popular along with the Nitrate / Phosphate are the devil trends ??
This was born out of the constant struggle to keep these at more controlled / normal levels Vs the lethal levels of the past old salts were used to battling with and Large water changes were our best ''tools'' to remove them.
In todays day and age where corals are ''easier '' to keep due to the great equipment, shared information and available Everything at your fingertips we are seeing folks having success keeping critters long term that would have other wise never gotten past the learning curve 20 years ago.
Regarding this the urge to pack a small tank with coral filling every inch of space possible the corals themselves become the greatest Nutrient removal system in the entire tank more often than not, so we factor all this in and we have a new issue developing.
New issue is lack of dissolved organics / nutrients in the system to keep a packed reef tank healthy long term while using many of the methods and great gear all together or in some combination.
It is far harder to compare tanks No matter how we look at them or from what time period merely by just gathering data from test kits or from trending threads. There is a lot of useful information to learn from all of the above but way to many variables to even start to compare accurately.
At the end of the day I see all sides to this discussion and folks will stick to what they believe and what works for them, that is fine / all good.
10 years from now we may be discussing how XYZ was the trend and Now XYZ is being black balled due to changing factors even though many folks are still using XYZ with excellent results, so what gives ?? See my point there.
